The Silent Watcher

Monthly Archives: January 2010

First, one seeks to become an artist by training the hand. Then one finds it is the eye that needs improving. Later one learns it is the mind that wants developing, only to find that the ultimate quest of the artist is in the spirit. (Larry Brullo)

Doctrines such as the planetary chain, or the seven races, at once give a clue to the seven-fold nature of man, for each principle is correlated to a plane, a planet, and a race; and the human principles are, on every plane, correlated to seven-fold occult forces – those of the higher planes being of tremendous power. xxxvii -SD-HPB

The human principles correlated to the planetary chain, seven races and seven-fold occult forces, if understood, would give each of us an understanding of the wholeness of our existence, every nuance being inter woven and each influencing the other. If only we had the insight and awareness to be conscious on all levels of our being. How alive and energized we would be. How would it work?

One way to help us to understand this concept would be the study of Western Sidereal Astrology. Awareness of astrology keeps us in the present moment, vitally alive and aware of how each planet is moving at this moment in the universe and influencing how we are in the world today; our moods, our accomplishments, areas in our life that flow well and other areas of our life that are at issue. Astrology can mirror to us our connection with the universe; the whole manifestation. The connection of each of our human principles with the planets is expressed by our physical and energetic body, our psychic state, our mind, our awareness or our essential self and our connectedness to the whole.

There is lots of writing in theosophical literature to explain these things, but I think today, in this era of the blog and the fast information to us on the internet, most of us don’t want to leaf through page after page of books.

I often feel that I don’t want to read about it, I want to do it; or I want someone to show me and to demonstrate this theosophical philosophy as a working model. I want to be with someone who is aware in the moment, who is aware that his/her every thought is influencing the mood of the moment for others and him/herself and who is taking responsibility for that. I want to be with someone who is comfortable in their own body, knowing that we are the creators of our body, of our mental faculties, our psychic state and our energy. I want to be with those people who have the well being of humanity as their primary focus. (See the article Applied Theosophy on the New Theosophy Network site.)

These awakened people are our real teachers in the twenty-first century. These teachers walk amongst men and we can identify them by their energy and awareness states. The student has to find their teacher by intuitional awareness and the state of their own being. This cannot be found by googling an information search or reading the Secret Doctrine cover to cover.

I’m not saying to throw out these methods. I think that we need to study, read and gain knowledge. We need to open our mind to the infinite possibilities presented in sacred works. Blavatsky says that reading the Secret Doctrine will actually change the way we think and how the mind functions.

I continue to read, and also observe how I am “being” in the world. I am coming to the realization that most of us don’t see how we are “being” in the world. It’s amazing how I don’t see my self absorption and lack of awareness of what is actually going on around me. I talk a good talk, but am aware that what really counts is doing “the walk”.

Six hundred and seventy-six pages in the first volume entitled Cosmogenesis. Seven hundred and ninety-eight pages in the second volume – Anthropogenesis. That would be fourteen hundred and seventy four pages to read, not counting the Preface, tables of contents for each volume, Introductory (31 pages), the Proem (24 pages) and preliminary notes of the second volume. When its all added up its fifteen hundred and fifty-nine pages plus.

How long would it take to read it straight through? If I read five pages a day for a year, that would more than cover it. I suppose that I might miss a day here and there, or read more on some days than others.

I read the Publishers Preface which is saying that this edition of 1964 is an exact replica of the original edition of 1888. They say the genuine Secret Doctrine has only two volumes, (even though H.P.B. said four were written and two are withheld). This edition has the two volumes bound together into one book.

“This work is Dedicated to all True Theosophists, in every Country, and of every Race, for they called it forth, and for them it was recorded.”

How did they call it forth? Was it by a yearning in the heart to know and a readiness for it to be received? It is said that “When the student is ready the teacher will appear”.

Was this a time when there enough people with sufficient capacity to understand and benefit from esoteric teaching of this kind? Was there a need to bring eastern and western thought together?

HPB tells us that none of the knowledge contained in this book is new, but that it is a synthesis of esoteric knowledge “scattered throughout thousands of volumes embodying the scriptures of Asiatic and early European religions hidden under glyph and symbol and hitherto left unnoticed because of this veil.” (preface – vol. I)

She says she wrote this book to show that “Nature is not a fortuitous concurrence of atoms “; to rescue the archaic truths and uncover the unity from which they all come; and to show the occult side of nature, a subject which had never been approached by the modern science of her day.